[b]

The Kalabari engaged in overland trade with other West Africans before their first European trading contacts with the seafaring Portuguese in the 1400's. Later, the Dutch, French and British also arrived by sea for trade and various attempts at missionary work.



The 1700's and 1800's were the heydey for the Kalabari as expert traders and middlemen (for men did the trading) with the Europeans. Among the items they chose in trade were cloth from India but also other commodities rare in their time, such as Venitian glass beads and coral.



The fortunes of the Kalabari shifted markedly after the British took political control of the geographical area that became known as Nigeria in the late 1800's. Instead of the king and chiefs controlling their own political and economic affairs, they were subject to British decree.



In 1960, when independence was declared for Nigeria, the Kalabari maintained pride in their ethnic heritage of prominance in public affairs. Many rose to the challenge of seeing themselves as part of the larger political, economic, and geographical unit of the Nigerian polity. Many were educated abroad and occupy strategic positions in national government.

;d

[b]History
Lagos was settled at various times by hunters and fishermen from the Àwórì sub-nationality. Originally based in Iseri on the Ògùn River about 20 miles from the island, the initial wave of settlers led by Arómiré ("the one that becomes personable at the sight of a

Lagos rests on the Gulf of Guinea. () river", established a presence in Ìddó and Èbúté Métta. Arómiré also grew vegetables, especially pepper, on a site where Iga Ìdúngànràn, the palace or official residence of the Oba of Lagos now stands. Iga Ìdúngànràn is an Àwórì term meaning house on pepper farm. The palace is thus not only an important symbol of the historical traditions of Lagos; its name also helps keep alive the site's association with vegetable farming by Arómiré, the city's first settler.

From these bases the Àwórì settlers moved further south, towards the creeks and the sea. One major reason why they moved was because their increasing population created the need for more space. Another was safety and security. Yorùbáland, of which Lagos was a part, had become embroiled in the long-running wars involving ethnic groups, communities, chiefdoms, kingdoms, and other political units of the time. The island settlements faced war from the Ègbás and the Ìjèbús, both Yorùbá-speaking nationalities. The ancient Benin Empire, in present-day Edo State of Nigeria also invaded the island around the year 1600.

There are conflicting accounts of the latter episode. Some have argued that the Binis actually founded the Lagos monarchy or system of rulership, apparently in the image of Benin's. Ashipa, the first Oba of Lagos, was a Yorùbá chief but not a Lagosian. It is known also that between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Benin Empire extended as far as Porto-Novo, west of Lagos. The Oba of Benin did appoint viceroys or representatives on the island and approved all appointees to the office of Oba of Lagos. In return, Lagos Obas paid tribute to Oba of Benin in recognition of the latter's superior status. Other historians have insisted that the Oba of Benin waged war on the island for the same reasons wars were then prevalent.

One of these was the desire by reigning monarchs to expand control over weaker, less populous peoples or neighboring communities, kingdoms, and empires. Another reason concerned the new trans-Atlantic slave trade. For those who participated in the trade as middlemen, warfare did provide a quick and sure supply of war captives who could then be sold as slaves and shipped to the New World. By an estimate, some 500,000 people may have been sold as indentured slaves and shipped from Lagos to the Americas and the Carribean, in particular Bahia, Cuba, and St. Helena. Anyway, for Arómiré and early settlers of the island, moving further south away from the mainland towards the sea was a mechanism to escape the wars that ravaged Yorùbáland from the seventeenth century. The wars and the disruptions associated with them were to become a justification for imposing British colonial control first on the island and later on what is now Nigeria.

From the mid-nineteenth century, freed Yorùbá slaves started returning to Lagos in waves first from Brazil and then from Sierra Leone. In 1847, Oba Kòsókó of Lagos sent his close friend and adviser Chief Oshòdì Tápà to South America to invite slaves with Yorùbá ancestry to return home. The trip yielded results in 1851 when 130 expatriates arrived in Lagos. By 1861 when Lagos formally became a British colony, the number of returnees had risen to about 3,000. The Brazilian expatriates brought with them skills in masonry, carpentry, and tailoring, a strong Catholic faith, and extensive Portuguese cultural traits.

Sierra Leonean expatriates, or Saros, mainly of Ègbá origins in present-day Abéòkúta in Ògùn State of Nigeria, started returning to Lagos in trickles about 1838. The reigning Oba Kòsókó did very little to make them feel welcome, so it was not until 1852 after Oba Kòsókó had been deposed by the British and replaced by Oba Akíntóyè, that Saros returned to Lagos in large numbers. They numbered about 2,500 by 1861 and were granted land in a district on the island still known as Saro Town.

With their longer association with English missionaries, Sierra Leonean returnees appeared to enjoy higher standards of material comfort than Lagos indigenes. The Saros were devout Protestants and better educated in the formal sense too. These attributes were to stand them in good stead to play a leading role in the cultural life of Lagos; they also helped infuse their fatherland with a love of education. Their efforts were to help create a class of literate indigenes who led the fight for human dignity under British colonial rule and set the stage for the nationalist struggle that led to Nigeria's independence in 1960.

These main groups have since been joined by a more heterogeneous mix of immigrants from far and near. The Vaughan family has American ancestry while the Bickersteth family originated from Porto-Novo in present-day Benin Republic. Lagos is also home to people with Ghanaian ancestry. A much larger number have moved south over the years from other parts of Nigeria—for example, from the Nupe and Benin areas in addition to Yorùbá migrants, especially from Ìjèbú, Ègbá, and Badagry areas.

. [/b]

[b]History
Main article: History of Lagos
Lagos was a Yoruba settlement of Awori people initially called Oko. The name was later changed to Eko (Edo: "cassava farm" or Eko ("war camp" during the Kingdom of Benin occupation. The Yoruba still use the name Eko when they speak of 'Lagos', a name which never existed in Yoruba language. It is likely that the name 'Lagos' was given to the town by the first Portuguese settlers who navigated from a coastal town of the same name in Portugal. The present day Lagos state has a higher percent of Awori, who migrated to the area from Isheri along the Ogun river. Throughout history, it was home to a number of warring ethnic groups who had settled in the area. During its early settlement, it also saw periods of rule by the Kingdom of Benin.[4]

Portuguese explorer Rui de Sequeira visited the area in 1472, naming the area around the city Lago de Curamo; indeed the present name is Portuguese for "lakes". Another explanation is that Lagos was named for Lagos, Portugal - a maritime town which at the time was the main centre of the Portuguese expeditions down the African coast and whose own name is derived from the Latin word Lacobriga.[/b]From 1404-1889 it served as a major centre of the slave trade, ruled over by Yoruba kings called the Oba of Lagos. In 1841 Oba Akitoye ascended to the throne of Lagos and tried to ban slave trading. Lagos merchants, most notably Madam Tinubu, resisted the ban, deposed the king and installed his brother Oba Kosoko.

While exiled, Oba Akitoye met with the British, who had banned slave trading in 1807, and got their support to regain his throne. In 1851 he was reinstalled as the Oba of Lagos

Lagos was formally annexed as a British colony in 1861. This had the dual effect of crushing the slave trade and establishing British control over palm and other trades.[5]

The remainder of modern-day Nigeria was seized in 1887, and when the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria was established in 1914, Lagos was declared its capital. It continued to be the capital when Nigeria gained its independence from Britain in 1960.

Lagos experienced rapid growth throughout the 1960s and 1970s as a result of Nigeria's economic boom prior to the Biafran War.

Lagos was the capital of Nigeria from 1914 up to 1991; it was stripped of this title when the Federal Capital Territory was established at the purpose-built city of Abuja. However, most government functions (especially the head of state) stayed in Lagos for a time since Abuja was still under construction. In 1991, the head of state and other government functions were finally relocated to the the Capital city Abuja

In 2002, an accidental detonation of military explosives caused the death of more than 1100 people.


[edit] Geography
The city of Lagos lies in south-western Nigeria, on the Atlantic coast in the Gulf of Guinea, west of the Niger River delta, located on longitude 3° 24' E and latitude 6° 27' N. On this stretch of the high-rainfall West African coast, rivers flowing to the sea form swampy lagoons like Lagos Lagoon behind long coastal sand spits or sand bars. Some rivers, like Badagry Creek flow parallel to the coast for some distance before finding an exit through the sand bars to the sea.


One of the lagoons surrounding LagosThe two major urban islands of Lagos in Lagos Lagoon are Lagos Island and Victoria Island. These islands are separated from the mainland by the main channel draining the lagoon into the Atlantic, which forms Lagos Harbour. The islands are separated from each other by creeks of varying sizes and are connected to Lagos Island by bridges. However the smaller sections of some creeks have been sand filled and built over.

Lagos Island contains many of the largest markets in Lagos, its central business district, the central mosque, and the Oba's palace. Though largely derelict, Tinubu Square on Lagos Island is a site of historical importance; it was here that the Amalgamation ceremony that unified the North and South took place in 1914.

Ikoyi situated on the eastern half of Lagos Island, housed the headquarters of the federal government and all other government buildings. It also has many hotels, and one of Africa's largest golf courses. Originally a middle class neighbourhood, in recent years, it has become a fashionable enclave for the upper middle class to the upper class.

Victoria Island and Lekki are situated to the south of Lagos Island. Along with Ikoyi, they are suburbs of Lagos which boasts of several sizable commercial and shopping districts (including Nigeria's largest mall and movie theater) and several trendy beaches.


Victoria IslandAcross the main channel of the lagoon from Lagos Island, a smaller island called Iddo Island is situated close to the mainland, and now is connected to the mainland like a peninsula. Three major bridges join Lagos Island to the mainland: Eko Bridge and Carter Bridge which start from Iddo Island, and the Third Mainland Bridge which passes through densely populated mainland suburbs through the lagoon.

Most of the population live on the mainland,so, most of the industries are located on the mainland. Lagos is known for its music and night life which used to be located in areas around Yaba and Surulere but in recent years more night clubs have sprung on the island making the island especially Victoria Island, the main nightlife attraction, Mainland districts include Ebute-Meta, Surulere, Yaba (Lagos) (site of the University of Lagos), Mushin, Maryland, Isolo, Ikotun, Ipaja, Ejigbo and Ikeja, site of Murtala Muhammed International Airport and the capital of Lagos State.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos

How Chioma Anasoh, Super-Mistress ruined Fani-Kayode

…Dumps Fani-Kayode for Senator Omisore

…Tattoos FFK (Femi Fani-Kayode) on her left Breast

Femi Fani-Kayode 
Indications have emerged on how a last-minute somersault on a marriage proposal between the embattled former minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode and his former mistress, Miss Chioma Anasoh, is threatening the political and marital future of the flamboyant politician.

But for providence, family sources say, preparations had already hit advanced stages for the duo of Fani-Kayode and Chioma to tie the nuptial knot at an elaborate ceremony sometime in June 2007, to consummate their whirlwind romance which began in 2004.

Since the marriage proposal hit the rocks, the centre has refused to hold for the former love birds, with Chioma, who reportedly feels shortchanged, vowing to exact her pound of flesh. “If l cant have FFK (Fani-Kayode’s alias) to myself after investing four years of my life, nobody would,” the 29 year-old 2004 zoology graduate of the University of Lagos was said to have sworn to some of their common friends.

Perhaps as a demonstration of her resolve to have Fani-Kayode, Chioma was said to have been so infatuated to the point of having “FFK” tattooed just above her left breast, after which she reportedly exclaimed “now let me see who can break this spiritual marriage!”

However, continued the source, unknown to Chioma, Regina, Fani’s Ghanaian wife, sensing that she was on the verge of losing her husband to a strange Nigerian woman, mobilized over 50 prayer warriors to help her husband break loose from what she considered Chioma’s spiritual yoke.

While God appeared to have answered Regina’s prayer on breaking Chioma’s yoke on her husband, it is however uncertain if the woman also asked God to protect her husband from the fury of the bitter lady, given that Fani-Kayode’s troubles appear to be mounting by the day.

“We thought it was all a joke. But the recent travails of FFK, particularly with the EFCC and other problems have proven with certainty that, of a truth, hell hath no fury than a woman scorned,” one of the minister’s friends confessed.

According to the source, “since June 2007, when it became clear to Chioma that Fani-Kayode was not in a hurry to dump his wife of close to 20 years for her, instead of moving on with her life, she cleverly concealed her bitterness and resolved to stay back to ensure that FFK met with a sure, installmental destruction.”

First, the source, continued, the former minister’s mistress ensured that she cleaned out her lovers savings and investments through frivolities. “You know, Fani had just left office as minister. This young lady (Chioma) ensured that they continued their ‘honeymoon’ from the Bahamas to Brazil, from Amsterdam to New York. She (Chioma) would shop only in exclusive shops, buying up fortunes of jewelry while they lodged in the world’s most luxurious hotels,” he stressed.

“Certain that Fani-Kayode had been stripped of his last penny, Chioma began negotiating with the man’s political opponents, particularly in his native Osun State, on how best to drive the nail into the former minister’s political coffin. With a 47-count charge involving money laundering and other related issues slammed on him by the EFCC, one need not ask if Chioma is succeeding,” stated the source.

[b]Another source close to the minister’s estranged mistress explained that Chioma, whose uncle Basil Anasoh is on the EFCC board, began discussions with the anti-graft body on how best to rope in her former lover without drawing attention to herself. At about the same time, she started seeing Senator Iyiola Omisore, who, like Fani-Kayode, is interested in taking from Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, in 2011.[/b]The source explained that it was Chioma who gave out FFK’s mobile telephone number through which the anti-agency trailed and eventually arrested the former minister. “Following a tip-off that the EFCC were on his trail, FFK changed his mobile phone number. Under the guise of giving a good friend company in his time of need, Chioma kept a tab on her lover by being with him everywhere. From FFK’s hide-out, and unknown to the former minister, the young lady had turned a mole and kept updating the EFCC on his movements, and when they eventually called up his new number, which at the time wasn’t even known to his family members, Fani-Kayode knew that the game was up and gave himself up,” the source added.

“Apart from intelligence gathered from our sources in the EFCC,” Fani’s friend continued, “the fact that, apart from Chioma, who was the most prominent aide at the time, all aides of the former minister were questioned by the EFCC casting a huge question mark on her role in the saga.”
   
Other sources offered that, upon realizing what hit him, a now broke Fani-Kayode, spends the better part of his time calling up his former and present aides, seeking their forgiveness over the way he had punished them each time their paths crossed with Chioma.

For as Special Assistant/Mistress to Fani-Kayode, Chioma reputedly wielded the most power while her lover boy served in the Ministries of Culture and Tourism, and Aviation. Many an aide and civil servant had incurred the wrath of Fani-Kayode simply because Chioma mouthed one complaint or the other about them.

One of her friends said: “We were all surprised on how Chioma, who used to live in Egbeda and sell clothes for her sister in Gbagada, had become one of the most powerful women in Nigeria. Through Fani-Kayode, she met hordes of ministers and very powerful politicians and being very street-wise, Chioma never let any opportunity pass her by, smiling to the bank with every fresh deal struck.

“Just to prove that she was no longer the backyard Chioma we used to know, she would take one or two of us on shopping trips in Dubai, London, New York. She would take us to see for ourselves her housing estates, her luxury apartments in Ikoyi, VGC and Asokoro, flaunt her Hummer jeep, Range Rover Sport, Acura Legend, Porsche Cayenne, and Audi S5 convertible. Her taste for jewelry was, to say the least, obscene,” one of her friends declared.

“Fani is not the first to be ruined by Chioma, who is never tired to boast of her Amaifeke-Orlu heritage. Her betrothed died two weeks into their wedding, when she was only 22, while the second committed suicide. The third guy who tried to marry Chioma was a stockbroker with BGL. Today, he is a jobless wreck. “She began testing her powers in Abuja by confronting Adaobi, who was Fani’s mistress when he resumed as Presidential Assistant. When Adaobi wouldn’t budge, Chioma unleashed her mystic powers and today, Adaobi cannot be said to be sane. A sister of another of Fani’s friend, Loveth, dropped dead a few days after Chioma threatened to harm her if she didn’t stop seeing Fani.

“There is this lawyer called Chioma. The poor girl’s dad died two months after Chioma threatened to kill her family members if she saw him with Fani again. While the deaths may all be unrelated, Chioma never stops maintaining that her cosmic powers can manipulate any human situation,” another source added.

One of Chioma’s friends, who spoke to Pointblanknews.com, however expressed disappointment at the reported turn of events. “They had one of the most romantic relationships. Chioma’s younger sister Amaka is in Reading University in the UK. Another is in an American University; one warming up for a Post Graduate program in the UK. Even her brother in Dubai and herself, warming up for a Post Graduate program, all owe their ascendancy to Fani-Kayode. We know none of them ever traveled abroad. But all that changed in 2004 when Chioma, who now speaks with a British accent, met Fani.Chioma has reportedly gone underground since her former lover’s trial began. Attempts to speak with her on her cell phones 08053414478 and 07055626693 were unsuccessful as they kept launching into voice messages. Our text messages to her were not acknowledged. On the other hand, Fani-Kayode’s media assistant, Bayo Oladeji neither confirmed nor denied the issues raised in this story. He however insisted that he would not bring himself to comment on his boss’ private life, pleading, “Please, leave me out of this.”

http://pointblanknews.com/os1537.html

Gov’s daughter loses $56,000, car to robbers - As police kill 3 suspected robbers in Ibadan
By Adebayo Waheed and Adeolu Adeyemo - 09.03.2009

ONE of the daughters of the Oyo State governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, was one of those who were dispossessed of their property at the weekend, when armed robbers once again raided the city of Ibadan.
The lady, Lamide, according to police sources, reportedly lost the sum of 56,000 dollars (about N9 million four hundred thousand naira) and her car, a Honda 2008 model when she was coming from a party.[/b]
In the incidents that took place in Ibadan at the weekend, three suspected robbers were killed by policemen, while three others sustained gunshot injuries.


The robbers, the Nigerian Tribune learnt, had been terrorising residents of Oluyole, Alalubosa, Oluwo Nla and Salami estates in Ibadan.
Two policemen were gunned down by the bandits in separate incidents. Some residents of Ibadan, who had fallen victims to the rampaging robbers in different operations, commended the gallant policemen who succeeded in killing the gang leader and others for a job well done.


The same suspected robbers were alleged to have robbed the Iyalode of Ibadan, Chief Aminat Abiodun and many other important people in the city.


While speaking with newsmen at the state police headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ralph Ibeazor, said he was particularly happy that the police responded promptly to the distress call and caught the robbers.


Confirming the death of two of his men, Ibeazor said, “these robbers had been terrorising residents of Ashi, Ikolaba, and Oluyole areas of Ibadan. It had been very difficult to get them. We are happy that we got them at last. This is one of our biggest catches this year.
“We will continue to get them. We lost two officers during a gun duel with the armed bandits. We lost one corporal last night and another one was shot in the head this morning,” Ibeazor said.


A policeman, who was said to be on his way to the office, was said to have been killed by the robbers. He said items recovered from them included a Beretta pistol with four handsets.


On Sunday, another gang of suspected armed robbers was said to have engaged the police in a gun duel during which two of them were killed, while three of the gangsters sustained injuries, leaving a policeman dead.


The robbers, who were said to be operating in a Black Toyota Camry car, had attacked 28 houses in the area. Among the sympathisers that thronged the command where the bodies of the robbers were displayed were some people who had fallen prey to the robbers.


Speaking with journalists, Mr. Akanni Adekunle said, “ the robbers had raided more than 28 houses at Salami Estate, Old Bodija. The policemen tried very well.”


Another victim who preferred anonymity said, the robbers came to their residence around 7.30 p.m. and dispossessed her of many valuables, including two cars, laptops, jewelry, money, ATM cards and mobile phones.


She said, “when the robbers came around 7.30 p.m., they collected the car keys and my jewelry. They asked me to tell them the Personal Identification Number (PIN) of my ATM, sent one of their men to go and collect the money threatening me that if they found out that I gave them fake PIN, they would kill me, my husband and all my children. They withdrew N100,000 from my account.”

One of the injured robbers who identified himself as Emmanuel Johnson, said he was lured into robbery by the gang leader named ‘Georgie’.


The Secretary to the State Government, Chief Olayiwola Lakojo, who came to the command also confirmed the operation that the robbers carried out yesterday morning.


According to the SSG, “I appreciate what the police have done and we have to be grateful to them. They have done excellently well. I was told that it was the same gang that went to rob the Iyalode of Ibadan, Dr. K. K. Oloso and some other people. With this achievement, I believe there will be relative peace in the state.”


“We have to salute the courage of the police because in the morning, right inside my quarters at Ikolaba, I was hearing gunshots for upward of two hours. That was why I was unable to go out. I gathered that the police had to use the APC to confront the robbers and that was when they were able to succeed,” Olakojo said.


Olakojo disclosed that a committee set up by the government was looking seriously to the purchase of more APC for use in Ibadan city.


“If these robbers were able to leave Lagos and by the grace of God, if the government is able to get these APC vehicles, we will also drive them away eventually from Oyo State,” he stated.


http://www.tribune.com.ng/09032009/news/news4.html

Remembering Clifford Orji, the cannibal of Costain.
Contributed by Sunny Chris Okenwa

I remember Clifford Orji, that supposed 'mad man' under the bridge in Costain Lagos killing people and eating them and
selling off their parts to highly-placed Nigerians either for money rituals or other diabolical adventures; I remember this
cannibal not as a hero but a murderous villain!
Slobodan Milosevic, the former President of disintegrated Yugoslovia was called by the Western press during his
drunken days in power as 'the butcher of the Balkans'. When he was in his dictatorial best before the West called his
bluff and flushed him out of power he massacred the Balkans. And hanged Saddam Hussein apart from being given the
moniker 'the sadman' could be called the butcher of the Kurds in Iraq. And down here in Africa Omar Hassan Ahmad al-
Bashir the Sudanese president could well be addressed as the butcher of blacks in Darfur. And President Obasanjo of
Nigeria the butcher of Odi and Zaki-biam people. Charles Taylor, butcher of descendants of American slaves in Liberia,
Robert Mugabe, butcher of former Rhodesians and white farmers in Zimbabwe, Jerry Rawlings, butcher of Ghanaian
chronic coupists. What these people have in common with the exception of the latter is their penchant to shed blood of
their people with little or no consideration for their rights of existence.

I remember Clifford Orji, that supposed 'mad man' under the bridge in Costain Lagos killing people and eating them and
selling off their parts to highly-placed Nigerians either for money rituals or other diabolical adventures; I remember this
cannibal not as a hero but a murderous villain!

When Clifford the killer was caught human parts were discovered in his 'den' with personal effects of those who fell victim
to his cannibalism and ritualism especially women. I think the courts declared him 'insane' to stand trial, whether he was
feigning insanity to escape justice is another matter for conjecture. But many of his customers must have felt sad at his
capture and exposure because the supply line was finally cut off saving more lives from being plucked away at their
prime.

[b]I remember the late Eddy Nawgu in Anambra State who was killed by the Bakasi boys. Eddy Nawgu who had high-profile
clients from north and south and east was a specialist 'god' who did all sorts of evil to give protection to big men or make
blood money for them through ritual killings. Stories were told about how little children disappeared in his neighbourhood
only to be traced to his evil shrine. In one particular gruesome episode he was reported to have pounded a few weeks
old baby in a mortar! A reverend father in the village was forced to confront him but he stood his ground; the ordained
priest left after he discovered that dreadlock-wearing Eddy was satan incarnate but not without cursing him. When his
cup of evil got filled to the brim the youths under the aegis of Bakasi Boys eliminated him by using cutlass to butcher him
in his fortress! Good riddance!

A true story was told about a young man frustrated in life in the city who thought that money ritual was the solution. He
was asked to bring forth his mother for him to be richer than the Dangotes and Igbinedions. The boy went home to the
village and hoodwinked his innocent mother into believing that she would be escorting him to his future wife's house in
another town to get acquainted with the girl. As they arrived the ritual doctor's abode the evil man's wife had had a little
baby few months past. As mother and child waited for the marabout to ask them in late in the night the newly-born child
was crying without ceasing! And the woman visitor showed motherly compassion by carrying the baby and as soon as
the baby was caressed by her in her arms she stopped crying but as soon as she gave the little baby girl to her mother
weeping set in again and again. This continued for hours on end.

As this unusual scenario was playing itself out in a bizarre fashion the father of the crying baby, the local ritual priest was
consulting his gods to know if the woman was good enough for sacrifice. When he came out of his house of horror he
announced to the boy whose appetite for richness had been wet that his oracle was against using her mother for rituals
citing the spirit of the little crying girl as reason. He warned the boy to go home with her mother and never to try using her
blood for anything of such nature.[/b]As mother and son were going home after a failed mission with the poor mother (saved by the spirit of innocence behind
the baby girl) asking after the young bridegroom whom they had come to see the boy suddenly became mad on the way
confessing his sins and running away after tearing into pieces his clothes; he was never to be seen again!

The Nigerian Village Square
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com Powered by Joomla! Generated: 8 March, 2009, 21:00
That reminds one of the Otokoto ritual killing episode in Owerri Imo State few years ago. The big men who were
implicated in the horrendous story of human killings were not touched but the few field executioners were lined up and
summarily executed, Obidiozor and co. Only God knows how many Nigerians must have met their gory deaths in the
hands of politicians on ritual prowl as elections draw closer.[b]Like Orji Emeka Ezeugo (Reverend King) now in jail for arson and murder was busy in his so-called church committing
fornication and adultery. In his trial that was widely publicised a lady witness told the court how Rev. King was playing
God in his church making rules and laws that were out of tune with modern christian doctrines. One of the witnesses who
testified against him narrated how day after day she administered MouthAction on King and serve him food naked![/b]Now that he is cooling his heels in Kirikiri maximum prison in Lagos I believe he must have had ample time and
opportunity to reflect on his actions while in 'power'. The prison experience may reform him and he may undergo the
Saul-Paul Damascus transformation. His follies while living in his 'paradise' must have been a heavy moral burden as he
serves his long term in jail. A decent society does not need the services of people like him and Orji who inflict the basest
of bestiality on their subjects or victims.

Today I believe out there in the jungle that is Lagos and elsewhere in our country where all things in their oddity happen
daily a whole lot of Rev. Kings and Clifford Orjis still stalk the land. But the solace we can take is that there's a Higher
Master up there monitoring our every move and at the fullest of time what was done in hiding and in secret places will be
proclaimed from roof tops. That is beside final judgement that awaits everything that has breath.

The Nigerian Village Square
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com Powered by Joomla! Generated: 8 March, 2009, 21:00

Leading pentecostal churches in Nigeria have explained why TB Joshua cannot be granted permission to join their fold, The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, (PFN).

One of them, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, voted one of Newsweeks 50 Most Powerful People in the World  went further to say that he will not even worship in Joshua’s Church.
I will not worship in TB Joshua’s church, says Adeboye

Asked whether he could worship in Joshua’s church, Adeboye retorted,“No! Definitely not! If he wants me to come and minister in his church, we will sit down; we will discuss the issue of salvation the way I understand it, according to the scriptures. If we agree on that and he now wants me to come and preach the same message of salvation in his church, then I will go.”

Source and other reactions: http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/30420/41/

EFCC investigates Chime's in-law over N14m fraud

By Adelani Adepegba

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is presently investigating Ngozi Mgbeke, the sister-in-law to Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, over alleged forgery, impersonation and receiving N10m under false pretences.



[b]Ngozi is the elder sister to Chime's new wife, Clara, who got married to the governor in October 2008 at Amuda Isuochi, Abia State.

Her investigation was prompted by a petition to the commission by the family of late Anayo Mgbeke (Ngozi's husband), who had a thriving haulage business in Enugu before he died in a motor accident in April 2007.

In the petition signed by the solicitor to the family, Okey Obikeze, the complainant (Mgbeke family) said since Anayo died, there had been a dispute between Ngozi and other members of the family concerning the money and other property generated from the said business

It was alleged that while efforts were being made to resolve the dispute, Ngozi, acting against a subsisting court order, conspired with some lawyers and falsely used the name of her mother-in-law, Chinyere Mgbeke, to fraudulently obtain a letter of administration from the court with which they withdrew N10m from a family account with a commercial bank in Enugu.

She was said to have also used the name of her mother-in-law without her consent to obtain over N4m owed the family by a construction company under the false pretence that she was the sole beneficiary and owner of the said money. [/b] The Public Relations Officer of the EFCC in Enugu, Blessing Ekeleme, said she did not know the level of investigation into the case, noting that her office did not handle petitions, but only gets brief of arrest after detectives might have concluded their work.

An investigator with the agency however confirmed that the matter was being investigated and that arrests would soon be made.

The Mgbeke Family in a separate letter to the Nigerian Bar Association and the Attorney-General of the Federation, complained about the "professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming of legal practitioners."

"We are greatly alarmed by the time; the way and manner the said letters of administration were obtained. It is our view that it is highly unprofessional for (lawyer's name withheld) to write and state that Chinyere Mgbeke (one of our clients being the mother of late Christian Anayo Mgbeke) consulted him/her when he/she was not actually consulted by Chinyere Mgbeke," part of their petition said.

http://nigeriaworld.com/cgi-bin/axs/ax.pl?http://odili.net/news/source/2009/mar/8/415.html

Furore over Ogbulafor’s N400m mansion
•He should tell us his source of income –AC
From Chuks Okocha in Abuja, 03.07.2009

Saturday, March 7, 2009

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday rose in defence of its National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor over allegations that he acquired a property worth over N400 million in the high brow Asokoro District in Abuja and that he solicited for bribes from some elected government officials.


But the opposition Action Congress party has challenged the PDP chieftain to tell Nigerians his source of income in the last five years that enabled him purchase the property.

Reports in the media have been agog over the corrupt tendencies of the PDP chairman in the last one year.

In a statement issued and signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prof. Ahmed Alkali, the party in a tacit admittance that Ogbulafor was in fact the owner of the mansion located at 45 Mohammed Nasir Road in Asokoro, Abuja said, “To question the ability of the chairman to own property anywhere, given his family background and successes in private business is callous and uncharitable.”

On allegations that Ogbulafor had solicited for bribes from elected politicians, the party said, “the allegations against the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Vincent Eze Ogbulafor are petty, frivolous and in bad taste.

“To also allege that he solicits for personal favours from elected party members is out of the question.

“Prince Ogbulafor is an avowed believer and firm practitioner of President Yar’Adua’s dogged war on corruption and will never engage in acts that will undermine or retard this noble endeavour.”

The statement said that the allegations are targeted at Ogbulafor and are “aimed at tarnishing his hard won years of building a decent and reputable career both in and outside politics.”

PDP blamed the attack on those “whose stock in trade is intimidation, harassment and blackmail with a view to attracting unmerited attention and perhaps material benefits.”

The party said in the statement that it “is constrained to come out openly and forcefully to condemn this breed of rumours and indecent politics of opportunism”, stating further, “silence here, we believe, is no longer golden and indeed could be interpreted as acquiescence to the callous sundry allegations being peddled around by merchants of anarchy.”

The party stated that it is well aware that since last year, following the inauguration of the National Executive Committee and following the “pledge and commitment of the National Chairman, Prince Vincent Eze Ogbulafor to reform, re-organize and reposition the party and return it to the people in line with the vision of the founding fathers of the party, there have been conscious and deliberate efforts to weaken this resolve.”

In this regard, PDP said that it is determined and resolutely committed to going ahead with all its programmes and plans of action for the special convention and shall not be deterred nor shall it succumb to the selfish ambitions of a few who are bent on subverting the unity and cohesion of the party.

“The PDP and its governments at all levels shall not be distracted by the mischievous antics of a lawless and arrogant few”, it said.

The party promised to get to the root of those behind the misleading allegations against Ogbulafor.

In reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of the opposition Action Congress (AC) Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has asked Ogbulafor to tell Nigerians his source of income in the last five which enabled him to purchase the mansion.

Mohammed queried: “What has he been doing
http://nigeriaworld.com/cgi-bin/axs/ax.pl?http://odili.net/news/source/2009/mar/7/204.html

:-x

obasanja pic still wowo pass this now.

Friday, March 6, 2009
Orji begs for forgiveness

Jayne Uche Ukonne, Aba

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State has pledged to leave an enduring legacy with people of the state.

He also asked for forgiveness from anyone he had inadvertently offended as it was not his intention to hurt anybody.


Orji made the pledge yesterday at the Umuahia Township Stadium during the inter-denomination thanksgiving service organized by the state government to thank God for re-validating the governor’s victory at the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, last month.


He also called on his "brothers" who contested the governorship election with him to join hands with him now that the litigations were over to develop the state, saying that if they were not willing to hearken to his call to allow him to do his work, he would not tolerate any further distractions.


The governor said he would not also allow himself to be pushed to the wall before reacting.


He said the essence of the occasion was "to return God’s glory to him as a fulfilment of the promise he made to God that if He saw him through the Appeal Court, he would praise Him in the presence of the people."


Orji said that the occasion was not the time to recall all he went through from the day he declared his intention to run for governorship until now, but he said he bore no grudge against anyone as he had left everything to God to judge.


On his immediate plans, Orji said he had reactivated most of the moribund industries in the state like the Modern Ceramics Industries, the International Glass Industry and would soon do same for the Golden Guinea Breweries, with private partnership.


Earlier in his sermon, the Bishop of Anglican Church, Kano Diocese, Bishop Zakka Nyam, had admonished Orji to make Abia a model state that people from other states could come and copy.


He also urged the governor to be prepared to make sacrifices for the state and the people.


The thanksgiving service, which was the attended by people from different states of the country, had in attendance wives of governors of Imo and Ebonyi states Mrs. Chioma Ohakim and Mrs. Josephine Elechi, former Military governor of old Imo State, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, former military administrator of Abia State Colonel Moses Fasanya, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Jnr who represented Governor Obi of Anambra State, National Chairman of Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) Chief Clement Ebri, Chief Arthur Eze, Chief Bob Ogbuagu, Chief Kalu Idika Kalu, among others.


Archbishop of Methodist Church Nigeria, Umuahia Archdiocese, Dr. Rogers Uwadi, Bishop of Anglican Dominion Umuahia, Dr. Ikechi Nwosu, Bishop of Methodist Church Nigeria Isuikwuato Diocese, Bishop Belonwu Onuagha, and other men of God earlier before the sermon had jointly re-dedicated the governor and his deputy, Comrade Chris Akomas, members of their families and other top government functionaries to God.

Port Harcourt Port Terminal ‘A’ ready for business, says Nwadialo, Customs boss
Written by TONY NWANKWO
Sunday, 08 March 2009

INSTITUTIONAL and governmental efforts to woo port users: importers, exporters and top businessmen across the country to use the now developed and ready Port Harcourt Terminal ‘A’ Ports in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Top on the bill are port importers in the south-east and south-south, who suffer untold hardships in the payment of avoidable demurrage accruing from delays, at the oft congested Lagos (Apapa and Tin-Can) ports being compounded by the hazzards of dilapidated, ill-maintained Sagamu-Benin Express Road that result in collapsed container trucks that had cost merchants several billions of Naira.

Terminal ‘A’ Port Harcourt port, the premier port of Eastern Nigeria built in 1913, disastrously affected by the civil war is back and the comptroller general of Nigeria Customs Service, Dr. Bernard Shaw Nwadialo, says all should rejoice and come over to benefit from the state-of-the-art facilities and equipment provided by the new owners. He praised efforts of the world-renowned port construction giant, Trevi Company for the five-metre ocean reinforced quay walls and Costain (WA) for the well over 500 meters long stacking area and access roads, an appreciative customs personnel and ports management, all rearing to do business at the port.

This assessment was made recently, as assistant comptroller general of Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Salisu Argungu, representing the comptroller general, spoke while commissioning the new office complex donated to the Nigeria Customs Service by the Port Harcourt Terminal new owners, Ports and Terminal Operators Nigeria Limited, PTOL. He called on the Federal Government to come to the aid of the concessioners in appreciation of what had been invested in the Port Harcourt port.

PTOL chairman, Chief Dennis Okafor said the official commissioning and dedication of the new office complex was a public statement that the company was prepared to properly partner with the Customs Command to provide improved ports service, while company director, Chief Mike Nwaukoni said PTOL was committed to providing Nigerian port users with a world-class port in Port Harcourt, urging stakeholders to take advantage of the modern facilities provided by patronising the port. Also at the occasion, company managing director and arrow-head of the operations, Mrs. Elizabeth Ovbude, said the company directors were leaving no stone unturned in their bid to ensure that port users get the best from Port Harcourt Terminal ‘A’ port.

The comptroller general said the project was the first of its kind in the country and commended PTOL for their patriotism and complete belief in the progress and development of the nation. “If you put together the amount of money the PTOL has expended to bring up this structure and estimate the resources they have put in place to make this port possible, you know a lot of resources have been expended. Which, if you look at the activity in the port, it cannot be compared to what was being generated. It means they have a belief that the future of this country is bright.”

The Customs boss said it was not sufficient to cry over ports congestion in Lagos. “We have ports in Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri, all these ports are virtually empty, but everyday we are shouting congestion, congestion in the ports. Are these ports not in Nigeria?”, he queried, and asked the ports authority to take decisions that must benefit the nation, by calling on ocean liners who must come to Nigeria to call on these eastern ports. He said the so-called insecurity bandied by critics was just on paper, citing the Onne Ports where vessels call daily without incidents.

Atiku wants emergency declared on education


Abubakar Atiku
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has asked the government to urgently declare an emergency on education, saying the system is in serious crisis.

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Delivering the closing remarks at the 10th National Programme of Commemoration of the late Shehu Musa Yar'Adua on Saturday in Abuja, Atiku said education was critical to the development of any nation.

"In a globalize world in which knowledge has become the mainstay of most economies, any society that does not equip its citizens with the tools and means of life-long learning will be seriously handicapped", Atiku said.

"The Nigerian educational system is in crisis and it is in need of an emergency declaration. The statistics are frightening and embarrassing. About 7.3 million of the estimated 60 million children in this country, according to a recent survey, are not in school not because they do not want to be but because of poverty and the inadequacy of available opportunities. What do we do about those who have been left behind?", Atiku asked.

He said the question becomes even more poignant when one realizes that of the over 12 million children entering primary schools each year, only five million make it to secondary schools. And of the five million, he added, about a million students write JAMB every year, competing for space in a higher education system that can only take a little over 250,000 each year.

"Again, I ask: What do we do about those left behind?"

The former Vice President said Nigeria must ensure that no child is left behind. "We must ensure that every child counts. We must as a matter of urgency expand opportunities and provide greater access to education for millions of our people. We must also improve the quality of education by raising budgetary allocation to education, providing conducive environment for learning, improving the quality of teaching, and ensuring that the content and structure of our educational system remain dynamic".

Atiku called for radical reform of the nation's educational system by making it sustainable, locally relevant and internationally competitive. "It must be accessible, equitable, qualitative and capable of imparting functional and life-long skills. All tiers of government must realize that any country which does not invest a lot of resources, energies and time on education or human capital development is doomed", he concluded.

UK-based Nigerians plan to embarrass Obasanjo in London
By Emeka Madunagu
Published: Monday, 3 Aug 2009
A group of Nigerians in the United Kingdom, the Nigeria Liberty Forum, is organising a massive protest at an international conference to be addressed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in London on March 18.

The event is being organised by the Crisis States Research Centre of the London School of Economics and Political Science on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Our correspondent gathered that Obasanjo was listed alongside former UK Secretary for International Development, Ms. Clare Short; the CSRC‘s Director, Prof. James Putzel; and professorial fellow in Governance at the Institute of Development Studies, Prof. David Leonard as a speaker at the one-day conference.

Obasanjo was invited to the conference, titled ”Eastern DRC - what should the international community be doing?” in his capacity as the special envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General to the DRC, a position he has occupied since November 2008.

But, the NLF is mobilising UK-based Nigerians to disrupt the event, scheduled to hold from 6.30p.m.-8p.m. at the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building in London.

In an emailed message to our correspondent on Saturday, the NLF‘s Convener, Mr. Kayode Ogundamisi, said the protest would show the world that Obasanjo lacked the ”moral authority to speak as (a) statesman.”

Ogundamisi said the group was mobilising Nigerians based in the UK as well as those travelling through London or residing elsewhere but are willing to join the protest to signify their interest.

He said the group would use the protest to draw attention to the military invasion of Odi in Bayelsa State and Zaki Biam in Benue State during Obasanjo‘s tenure.

The group said, ”We cannot let Obasanjo get away with the lies he intends to sell to the British people.

“This is the man who gave Nigeria the worst election in world history; he cannot be allowed to whitewash his sins in the United Kingdom while Al Bashir of Sudan is wanted for genocide.”

The same group had on July 17 last year forced President Umaru Yar‘Adua to change the venue of an address he was to deliver at an event organised by a UK-based organisation, Chatham House.

The event, which was originally slated for the head office of Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, at 10, St. James Square, London, had to be moved to a rundown building at 8, John Adams Street, London.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200903082311767

Many Nigerian doctors now engage in illegal sale of babies, taking advantage of helplessness of pregnant girls and the desperation of childless couples.

By Ademola Adegbamigbe,

All passengers had settled on their luxury bus seats, expecting to embark on the tortuous nine-hour Enugu-Lagos trip. That Monday, 9 June, 2008, Mrs. Bene Aguocha was one of those who wanted to take off to Lagos from the Holy Ghost Park, Enugu.

As usual, every one on the bus was craning his or her neck, preening at the vast range of wares on display by hawkers, who were pressing their noses and faces on the bodywork and windows of the bus.  Items on sale were ukwa, ugba, abacha, tapioca, achala, pear, kolanuts, akutu, walnuts, groundnuts, garden eggs and banana, most of which are food and fruits indigenous to the south-east. These wares make travellers salivate and look forward to such trips, especially after leaving home for a long time.
tn-cover-jun-30.jpg

Beyond these, there were also the antics of medicine hawkers displaying local herbs, ranging from cough concoctions, lotions for treatment of scabies, to aphrodisiacs. Street urchins, dancing vigorously to ear-splitting music, provided entertainment. Despite the raucous atmosphere of the park, anxiety of how the journey would end always settles on all travellers like a brooding hen. These are the bad roads that could break the spine or damage vehicles, and the menace of bandits who could snuff life out of travellers with no more effort than killing a moth. That day, Mrs. Aguocha’s apprehension at that Enugu park was more complicated. Beyond the bad road, the possibility of the vehicle developing a fault on the way without a refund of her transport fare and being attacked by robbers, the woman was afraid of what would happen if the bundle she was carrying, a day-old-baby, was detected. To banish fear from her mind, she made a sign of the cross, even as she listlessly shook her leg and sang a false lullaby. However, her prayer was not answered by the Almighty who prefers justice. An eagle-eyed female official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, accosted and questioned Aguocha why she was travelling with a day-old baby. The official asked her to prove ownership of the baby. She started stammering, even as her shaky palms became wet with sweat. Aguocha found it difficult looking at her accuser straight in the face. Earlier, as revealed by the Enugu State [b]Commandant of the NSCDC, Mr. Desmond Agu, his men got wind of a lady who was about to make a trip to Lagos with a day-old baby that was not hers. When caught, the woman confessed that she bought the baby from one Dr. Kenneth Akunne, also known as Dr. Chukwu Uzoma, for N340,000. Akunne allegedly operates a maternity home at 3-6, Anyaegbunam Street, Uwani, Enugu. Consequently, security men swooped on Akunne’s hospital and stumbled on 22 pregnant girls whose ages ranged between 15 and 18 years. Sources close to the magazine disclosed that Dr. Akunne had a private clinic at Inyi Street, Ashara Layout area of the city, which was once closed down for a similar offence. That year, his certificate of practice was said to have been withdrawn by the Nigerian Medical Association(NMA). In recent times, cases of sale of babies have been increasing alarmingly. On the part of the buyers, they were driven by the desperation of childlessness, ritual for money, foreign welfare opportunities, and (cheap) child labour. For those who sell their own babies, a pattern has, in recent times, developed. They were driven to this madness by the excruciating economic climate, culture, rejection by their sugar daddies and the fear of what the future holds. The matter became so serious that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons, NAPTIP, raised an alarm on the increasing cases of Nigerian medical personnel, parents and illegal children homes selling babies. Mrs. Carol Ndaguba, Executive Secretary, linked this to the rate of poverty in the country. She urged all states to sign the Child Rights Act to protect children. She revealed that her agency had received reports on the sales of babies going on, especially in the South East, and added that she had put her men on full alert. That Nigerians sell babies, in the words of analysts, shows that these are desperate times. At moments of great upheavals like famine, war, draught, earthquake, the reasoning faculty of many people would take a flight such that they indulge in terrible practices for survival. According to Joel Alebiosu, an Ibadan-based sociologist, that is why certain individuals indulge in self-castration, cannibalism and selling of their own children. He quoted what happened in imperial China, where the eunuchs, who were close to the rulers, had access to free food, shelter, clothing and power, even as their ‘complete’ compatriots wallowed in povety. Apart from many Chinese submitting themselves for castration, there were thousands of others who indulged in self-castration.“If you doubt that economic reason or the need for survival can drive people to cannibalistic level,” Omolo told TheNEWS, “I refer you to what the Cable News Network founder, Ted Turner, said recently that there would be catastrophe if global warming is not addressed by world leaders. In the words of Turner: ‘Not doing it will be catastrophic. We’ll be 8 degrees hotter in 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals.’” Omolo told this magazine, therefore, that the same desperation that drove people to castrate themselves and cannibals to eat human flesh is the same expediency that could “make a woman sell the bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh and for a doctor to be a facilitator”. True. Investigations revealed that sale of babies is booming among medical doctors and nurses with their large number of customers. TheNEWS reliably gathered that a baby girl now goes for N250,000, N300,000 or N400,000, depending on how a buyer could bargain or how well the doctor could exploit the desperation of the prospective buyer. Dr. Akunne, who had turned his Hippocratic oath upside down, claimed that he was running a non-governmental organisation. But Agu, Enugu State Commandant of the NSCDC, said the medical doctor should tell that to the marines. Even residents of Anyaegbunam Street said Akunne’s maternity home had been notorious for child trafficking for the past three years. This medium gathered that there were two young lady canvassers who lured girls, mostly students and house maids, to the home on commission basis. Two bouncers were also on the payroll of the doctor to deter girls that may wish to abscond. TheNEWS further gathered that the 20 pregnant girls found in Akunne’s hospital confessed that he used to have unprotected sex with them.

There was, however, a curious twist to the drama when cops from Uwani Police Station arrived to intimidate officers of the NSCDC, asking why they did not consult them–the police–before taking action. This raised a question whether the police were not on the payroll of the baby sellers, an allegation denied by the police authorities in the state, which intervened in the conflict. Also on 6 June 2008, an 80-year-old grandmother, Mrs. Grace Erondu, was paraded in Abuja for allegedly conspiring with some other persons to engage in child trafficking, the handmaiden of baby sales. Among the 13 girls, aged between 19 and 26, found in her custody in Umuahia, 11 of them were at various stages of pregnancy. Two of them were delivered of babies, but did not know their babies’ whereabouts.

Miss Mary Ibe, a victim who hails from Afikpo Local Government area of Ebonyi State, lamented: “The person who directed me there said there were doctors and nurses there to take care of us. I went there one Sunday in April. When I got there, I was told that three people delivered all boys and the children were taken away.” On 29 May 2008, Jabuken Hospital, located at Umode in Osisionia council area in Aba, Abia State, was raided by the police. Although the proprietress, Mrs. Ijeoma Ibekwe, had voted with her feet, the cops arrested two men and nine girls and six of them, between 15 and 20 years of age, were in different stages of pregnancy. The pregnant girls included Chinonye Isaiah,19, from Ovim–Isikwuato Local Government Area in Abia State; Chinelo Okoro,15, from Umualuwakum Mbano, Imo State; Nkechi Njoku, 20, from Asa-Nnesu LGA, Abia; Odiwomma Okafor,17, from Obowo, Imo State; Ndidi Monday,15, from Uruan-Iyan, Cross River State; and Blessing Achurumba,15, from Ala-Oji, Abia.  Others were Goodnews Jombo, 26, from Obingwa LGA, Abia State; Ogochukwu Onwumere, 23, from Umuorie-Aku, Ikwano LGA, Abia; and Amarachi Njoku, 17, a native of Agbor in Delta State. The men were Joshua Ibekwe, 28, Umuajameze Umuopara and Levi Ibekwe, 31.

Investigations revealed that the hospital was not only unregistered, but an antenatal home where unmarried girls and victims of unwanted pregnancy were camped.  Through contacts, Ijeoma allegedly recruited the girls into her hideout from rural areas and among salesgirls and house-helps in big towns across the country. Other recruitment grounds include post-primary and tertiary institutions, where female students are afraid of the great taboo in most Igbo cultures on unwanted pregnancy. Affluent Ijeoma, fondly called mummy by her clients, was reported to call the shots in the camp. She partially undertakes the inmates’ upkeep. At her expense, she provides them with orthodox and traditional modes of antenatal care. Thus, their relationship gets chummier.  To consummate her ploy, she plays midwife during labour and delivers them of babies free of charge.

Ijeoma, a hard-nosed businesswoman, would, thereafter move to recoup her antenatal and postnatal bills by selling babies in her care. She allegedly did this by negotiating with ritualists, child traffickers and adopters through sale at huge prices. A source told TheNEWS that she would give part of the money to the girls to make them keep quiet. But nemesis caught up with Ijeoma recently. Levi Ibekwe, a deportee and one of the male suspects in the custody of the Abia State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Umuahia, disclosed to the magazine that Ijeoma was his wife. Levi revealed that trouble ensued when his cousin, Miss Ahuruchi Peace Iroegbu, reported to the police that her own mother and his wife conspired to sell her baby. Asked if he was aware of the ‘business’ between his wife and Ahuruchi’s mother, Levi said: ”I don’t know anything about the business. But anything the police can do to recover the baby is my concern.” Close sources, however, alleged that he had a record of criminality. They revealed that his wife was using him as a child trafficking mule. Meanwhile, the police are still looking for Ijeoma and Ahuruchi’s mother. In Aba town and its environs, most unsuccessful doctors, midwives and homoeopaths have thrown medical ethics to the wind and indulge in gross misuse of their registered medical outfits. Prior to police discovery, some of the babies belonging to the girls had been sold. Also, Lillian Achomba, 42, was arrested at Umukpeyi Nvosi, in Isiala, Ngwa South LGA of Abia State. She was arraigned before an Umuahia magistrate’s court in March for running a unisex camp, with 43 young girls and 11 robust boys for premarital procreation for commercial interest. When the camp was raided on a tip-off, about 31 girls were already heavily pregnant. Yearly, Lillian acquires about 40 babies for sale, which yields copius amounts of cash.

On 4 December 2007, some policemen from Aba Central Police Station arrested Dr. Orikara Hyacinth, 42, at 3 Brass Street, off Owerri/Aba Road. They also arrested Mrs. Ayodele Okeke, 38, at 10 Woji Street, Port-Harcourt in Rivers State. Mrs. Okeke runs an unregistered maternity home without even a signpost. It was alleged that Orikara was trafficking in new-born babies as well as recommending pregnant girls to Ayodele.  When the police swooped on the maternity home, a one-day-old baby was discovered with one Madam Jennieve Orjie, a 39-year-old indigene of Calabar, Cross River State. Under police interrogation, she claimed maternal ownership of the baby, believed to have been abandoned by a girl on a safe run. However, to unravel the riddle, a DNA test was carried out at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, which proved that the claimant had no blood relationship with the baby. Jennieve was prosecuted alongside Ayodele and Orikara. So strong is the interest in this trade that is has become attractive to the most unlikely people. In May, an Aba-based pastor was handcuffed for keeping and offering antenatal care to 15 pregnant girls in a hideout adjacent to his ‘divine’ house of God. He explained that he engaged the pregnant girls to work for him on his private farm. On investigation, it was uncovered that the pastor had no farm. Sources revealed that the pastor was exploiting contacts of branches of his church across the globe to perpetuate this illicit trade.

Discreet checks conducted by this medium revealed some factors promoting human trafficking in the state.  Across the Igbo ethnic nation, it was gathered that most victims of unwanted pregnancy are faced with rejection by their parents. Lack of parental love and care also count. An average contemporary girl is materialistic, thus, most girls become prey in the hands of randy men in both rural and urban areas.  When impregnated, the philanderers turn their back on them. Nemesis also caught up with one Dr. James Babatunde Adeyemi in August 2007 in Calabar. As reported by TheNEWS last year, his Mambo Clinic, located at 12 Atamuro Street, Calabar, was invaded by the police, upon information that the doctor indulged in illegal abortion, baby sale and sundry vices. Adeyemi was arrested for allegedly selling one David Joseph Edem, the son of a 17-year-old girl, Miss Sarah Joseph Edem, to a woman based in Sapele, Delta State. The buyer, identified as Helen, curiously absconded from police custody. 

Distraught Sarah told TheNEWS in Ikot Ansa, a suburb of Calabar, that sometime in 2006, she was pregnant and after confronting her boyfriends, none of them was willing to accept responsibility for the pregnancy and to avoid the trouble of her mother and elder sisters, she concealed it for about four months. The pregnancy was discovered by her elder, whom she said was furious. As an apprentice with Rainbow Garment, a fashion designing firm, the pregnancy was going to put paid to her acquisition of the trade, since she had dropped out of school. Her elder sister, Imaobong, concerned that the N10,000 paid for her to learn the trade would be wasted, decided to pay another N10,000 to have the pregnancy terminated. ”When Imaobong discovered that I was pregnant, she was furious with me. She, however, calmed down and decided that I should have the pregnancy ternminated. Somebody directed us to Dr. Adeyemi, who demanded for N10,000, which we paid. But the doctor said the pregnancy had escaped to my back so he could not trace it. He advised that I should keep attending prenatal care for him to study the pregnancy to know what to do,” she said. She kept visiting the hospital to have the pregnancy removed, but the doctor only kept asking her to repeat her visits until the pregnancy became too advanced and thus risky to abort. She then accepted her fate as her mother too was against the idea of an abortion from the start. With the idea of an abortion shelved, the doctor opted to be ‘monitoring” the progress of the pregnancy, so that he would know when she would put to bed. “I did not attend antenatal in his clinic, but occasionally, he would send for me to ask how I was doing. Because I did not have money to go to hospital, my sister took me to a midwife at RCC Road where I delivered on the 29th of April 2007,” Sarah said. A few days after delivery, Adeyemi called Imaobong to “find out about my patient”. He was informed that the girl had delivered and was in the house. On Friday, 5 May 2007, Adeyemi visited their home in the company of a nurse with the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, UCTH. “The nurse gave Imaobong N200 to buy me drugs when my sister went out. Adeyemi took me to a corner of the house and told me to come to see him on Sunday in his hospital. That I should not allow anyone to know that I was going to see him,” said Sarah.

She said Adeyemi repeated the visit to further instruct her to ensure she showed up in the hospital. As agreed that Sunday, she went to see Adeyemi. “After my sister had left for church with Emem, our last born, and my mother was off to her farm in Odukpani, I went to Mambo to see Adeyemi,” she explained. Her stay in hospital took her far into the night. Her absence agitated the minds of her siblings. Later that evening, Imaobong received a call from someone claiming to be the step-sister to the boy who impregnated Sarah. The caller, Imaobong said, told her that Sarah was with her in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, and that she was the step-sister to the boy who impregnated Sarah and would now take care of David. “I was mad. Who is that boy that throughout Sarah’s pregnancy never showed up. It is now that he knows Sarah should be taken to his step-sister. I warned the woman to return Sarah immediately or I would raise an alarm,” she told TheNEWS last year. The caller, Imaobong said, hung up and when she called back, she refused to answer the phone. Meanwhile, Sarah said, when she got to the hospital, Adeyemi gave her some drugs to take which made her feel dizzy. “After taking the drugs, he drove me in his car to White House Street where Mary Okon lives and collected the baby in the car and handed  him over to the nurse. I was feeling too weak and confused and could not do or say anything,” she narrated. Back to the hospital, Adeyemi, she said, gave her the key to his office to go in there and wait. “After I waited for a long time in his office, he did not come. I decided to come out when my head cleared a little. When he came back, he was very angry and ordered me to go inside the office and he locked me up,” Sarah said tearfully. The girl was locked up in the office until the following day. According to her, the doctor wrote a letter, a copy of  which she was given. That copy was later dispatched  to her sisters in Ikot Ansa. The letter pleaded for forgiveness from her mother and sisters for handing over “David to his father’s step-sister to take care of since we cannot take care of him alone”.

Imaobong got the letter and became furious. She went with her mother to Mambo Clinic where they met Adeyemi and two ladies. Her mother, she disclosed, started screaming. Sarah said the doctor pleaded with her mother to stop screaming and that David had been taken to the motherless babies home and he would soon go and bring him. He claimed that the women in charge of the home went for a burial and would be back two days later. “When my mother heard this, she fainted,” Imaobong told TheNEWS. Imaobong, who said she missed that year’s Universities Matriculation Examination because of the matter, said they went back two days later but Adeyemi was nowhere to be found. They then reported the matter to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, which advised them to go to the police. At the police station, they were directed to the anti-human trafficking unit.

Meanwhile, a nurse at Calabar’s General Hospital had observed the suspicious movement of two women and called the attention of a doctor to them. The women claimed they wanted to “spend the night in the hospital”. This allegedly raised the suspicion of the doctor, as one of them had a new-born baby wrapped around her waist like a woman who had just put to bed. When the doctor examined them, it was discovered that none of them had just put to bed. They were subsequently accosted and handed over to the police at the Akim Police station. There they were said to have made some useful statements to the effect that they bought the baby from a medical doctor and were at the hospital to “procure” another baby to take to their husbands since they had been without children after 30 years of marriage. They were able, however, to bolt after the confessional statement, but without the baby as he was with the doctor. 

When Adeyemi was invited by the police, he said Sarah came crawling to him to assist in taking care of the baby since she was not able to care for the baby alone. When asked to get the baby from his wife’s friend, he could not. He was subsequently taken into custody by the police. He was held for over five days before he was released him on bail. When contacted in his hospital, Adeyemi said he had no time to talk to the “press because the matter, as you have said, is an allegation. The matter is with the police and if you want to know what happened get my statement from the police. Now please leave my office as I have patients to attend to.” The Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association, Dr Ikpeme Ikpeme said that a panel would be set up to investigate the case against Dr Adeyemi. Several months after, nothing has been heard of the investigation and Dr Adeyemi is still in practice. When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer for the Cross River Command, ASP Thomas Okpene said: “The man was asked to be released on bail by AIG Zone Six. When the Commissioner asked for the file because of the shoddy way the case was handled, it was reported that the AIG had given instruction that he should be taken on bail.”

Residents of the state are worried that if Adeyemi is allowed to continue to practice without any sanction, he would inflict more damage. Other cases abound. In May 2005, the Nigerian Newsday, a weekly newspaper owned by the Nasarawa State government, reported how a medical doctor in a private medical clinic in Kaduna delivered pregnant ladies of babies that he sold to sterile couples. He sold each baby for N20,000. On 19 October 2003, one of a set of twin baby boys was allegedly stolen during a Caesarean operation in which the mother, late Mrs. Chinwendu Ukwuoma, died of alleged negligence and recklessness at Jeno Hospital, Trans Ekulu, Enugu. Two medical doctors – J.E.N. Okonkwo and Christian Ogbuokiri – are being accused of negligence, recklessness and collusion in the theft of the baby boy. The case is before the Medical and Dental Practitioners Council for disciplinary action.[/b]Part of the charges read: “Dr. J.E.N Okonkwo, as the proprietor and the medical practitioner in charge of the said JENO HOSPITAL, failed to issue any standing order or guidelines for the management of handling of emergency situations such as the admission and management of Mrs. Chinwendu Ukwuoma in your absence, and consequently led to the mismanagement of the said Mrs. Chinwendu Ukwuoma in your said hospital. “That you, Dr. Christian Ogbuokiri proceeded to carry out Caesarian section on the said patient without ordering necessary laboratory investigations and also ensuring that duly cross-matched blood or any blood at all was available in the theatre for the use of the patient in case of need in the course of surgery, “And that by the said fact you have conducted yourself infamously in a professional respect contrary to Rule 10 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Medical and Dental Practitioners in Nigeria (1995 edition) and … CAP 221 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.”But the father, Okechukwu Ukwuoma, with the assistance of NAPTIP, on 9 November 2007, four years after, recovered the child from one Mrs. Yashi in Trans Ekulu, Enugu metropolis. She was detained by NAPTIP and later released. Mr. Ukwuoma was, however, anxious about her possible escape. In a petition to NAPTIP, Enugu Zonal Office, counsel to Ukwuoma, M.O. Udeh Esq argued: “It is not even safe to grant her bail because she may jump bail. The safest way out of the situation is to arraign the woman before a court, and it will be left with the court to decide the issue of her bail, in view of the fact that she has not supplied any reliable clue to explain how she came in possession of the stolen child.”

However, in a chat with the magazine, the Zonal Director of NAPTIP South-East, Enugu, Mrs. Ijeoma Okoronkwo said that the Agency is empowered to arrest and release on bail suspects in the course of investigation. She however explained that NAPTIP would not be compromised on the matter. “The aim is to unravel the true parent. We are very much interested in how the boy was removed from his parents.” According to her, investigation is on in collaboration with the state Ministry for Women Affairs, Police and other security agencies involved.  If found guilty, Mrs. Yashi would face imprisonment for 14 years without the option of fine for contravening Rule IX (e) of the Offences and Punishment Act 2003 establishing NAPTIP which frowns at depriving any parent of possession of any person under the age of 18 years. The case of JENO Hospital revealed how medical personnel, through abuse of their responsibilities, engage in child trafficking.

There are many reasons that Nigerians now engage in selling and buying of children. One of these is the poor economy. Many parents are so poor that, to make ends meet they sell their own children. Consequently, the children end up as child labourers in cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester, according to The Telegraph of London. In January 2005, David Harrison, an undercover reporter with The Telegraph, came to Nigeria and was offered several children for sale by their Nigerian parents. That is, two boys, aged three and five, for £5,000 or £2,500 for one; and a 10-month-old baby for £2,000. Teenage girls, including pregnant ones were, according to the newspaper, willing to sell their babies for less than £1,000. “One international trafficker, tracked down in Lagos,” as Telegraphy reported, “claimed to be buying up to 500 children a year.”

Apart from using the children for domestic work up to 18 hours a day, cleaning, cooking and looking after other young children, the foreign newspaper reported further that they are subjected to physical and sexual abuse. That month, as Telegraphy reported, campaigners urged the government to take urgent action to end this 21st century slavery. “These children are being abused under our noses in our own country,” Chris Beddoe, the director of End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, a British-based coalition of international charities, told the newspaper. “It is totally unacceptable. We need urgent action to identify these children as they enter the UK, find those who are being abused and offer proper protection to those who escape or are freed from their abusers.”  Vernon Coaker, the Home Office Minister responsible for the prevention of trafficking, described child traffickers as “evil” and said anybody who could buy and sell babies was “sick”. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, a British non- governmental organisation, revealed that 330 children, including 14 aged under 12, many of them from Africa, had been trafficked to Britain over the past 12 months.

The Telegraph revealed the modus operandi. That is, the traffickers use a network of corrupt officials and co-traffickers to obtain passports and visas, often giving the children new names. Many of the young victims are flown directly from Lagos in Nigeria to London airports. Others are taken, via other West African states such as Ghana and Benin, to “transit” cities, including Paris. A growing number of the African slave children arrive in Britain unaccompanied, as asylum seekers, or with “private foster parents”. The newspaper quoted Debbie Ariyo, the executive director of the London-based charity, Africans United Against Child Abuse: “This trade is a disgrace. These children are not going to loving homes. They are being cynically used by adults as slave labour and to defraud the state and then when they get older and have served their purpose and no longer attract benefits, they are thrown out on to the streets with no papers even to prove who they are. These are damaged, traumatise children and we have to end this misery.” Campaigners said that many of the slave children – psychologically and often physically damaged at 18 – were thrown out of the houses of their “owners”.

According to the United Nations Human Development survey, 70 per cent of Nigerians live below the International Poverty Line of one US dollar per day and it is the child that is the most affected by this economic downturn. Infant mortality is pegged at 77 deaths out of every 1000 live births, while maternal mortality is 704 deaths out of every 100,000 live births. Only about 10 per cent of the population have access to essential drugs, while more than five million adults are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS.  Another motivation for Nigerians who buy babies is to have access to British welfare facilities. The most recent of such cases was in April this year when Nigerian-born Peace Sandberg, 40, paid £150 for a three-month-old boy in this country. With a forged birth certificate with which she obtained a visa for the baby from the British High Commission, she flew into London.

Hours after arriving at the Heathrow airport, Sandberg claimed she returned to Nigeria in December 2006 to give birth and wanted to own her own flat. But Sandberg, a support worker for Kensington Housing Trust, was recognised by Lizette Reddy, a housing officer at Ealing council’s homeless persons unit. Sandberg’s plan, therefore, fell flat. Also, Mrs Ijeoma Okoronkwo of South-East zone of NAPTIP told this magazine that about 20 offenders have been successfully prosecuted across the country and are currently serving various jail terms. She said that NAPTIP is doing well, stressing that the awareness on child trafficking is being taken to all nooks and crannies of the country and people are becoming very conscious of the crime. Out of the 20 convictions in the land, two were from the South-East zone; one person each from Anambra and Ebonyi states. There are seven cases in court, she revealed, lamenting that criminally minded people are taking advantage of childless couples to engage in the nefarious trade. Mrs Okoronkwo argued that people are reluctant to go to motherless babies homes for child adoption probably because of cultural or legal implications, and pointed out the need for re-orientation of the populace on formal adoption. According to her, Nigeria is a source state, transit and destination place for child and human trafficking.

Child Rights Act, 2003, section 30 states: “No person shall buy, sell, hire, dispose of or otherwise deal in a child. A child shall not be used for the purpose of begging for alms, guiding beggars, prostitution, pornography, domestic or sexual labour or for any unlawful or immoral purpose, or as a slave, or practices similar to slavery such as trafficking of the child, debt bondage, serfdom, forced or compulsory labour, hawking or for any purpose that deprives the child of the opportunity to be in school. A person who contravenes this section shall be liable to 10 years imprisonment.” Observes believe, however, that the federal government could take a cue from the Delta State government which, in April, presented the Child Rights Bill to the state legislature. In the words of Governor Uduaghan, the bill was to “protect our children from any harmful and unacceptable practices that will compromise their future…” Will the Umar Yar’Adua administration do something about this? Nigerians are expecting.

–Reported by Emma Una, George Okpara and Jude Orji.

Ogun crisis and the assault of allied forces
By Ademola Oni

Published: Sunday, 8 Mar 2009
The fragile peace in the political landscape of Ogun State crumbled on Tuesday, culminating in the unlegislative display of crass indiscipline by members of the state House of Assembly. It could be understood that the action was expected owing to the unsavoury events that preceded the resumption of plenary by the lawmakers after a month of horse trading, jettisoning of decorum and order. It was also not unexpected as the House had been polarized into two camps. One camp, consisting of 15 lawmakers allegedly committed to the removal of the state Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. In this group, are high profile lawmakers like the Speaker, Mr. Tunji Egbetokun, and his Deputy, Pastor Remmy Hazzan.



The other group, made up of 11 House members, has the former Speaker, Chief Titi Oseni, his former Deputy, Mr. Edwards Ayo-Odugbesan, and the House Chief Whip, Mr. Musa Maruf. Though, short on numbers, the membership of the latter group is no less formidable.

A seemingly light disagreement on the constitution of a panel by the state government in January to look into the political crisis that engulfed the Ijebu North Local Government of the state in December has snowballed into war of attrition.

In constituting the Ijebu North Panel, the governor had accused the suspended executive of the council, led by the Chairman, Alhaji Tele Ogunjobi, of financial mismanagement and the use of thugs to settle political scores in the area. The House members, who had gingerly been waiting for a slip, felt it was time to act as 15 of the members engaged 11 others in a heated debate on Daniel‘s allegations and the need for the House to set up its own investigative panel to look into the problems of the council. The executive described this move as an affront and an attempt to run a parallel government. The House Committee, headed by Hazzan, did not cave in to pressures from the lawmakers‘ constituencies as it went ahead to call for memorandum from members of the public.

While this episode was still on, the House on January 20, 2009, demanded the release of N135,413,787.49k. In a letter by the Clerk of the House, Mr. Demola Badejo, Ref. HA/70/154, the House said the money represented the recurrent and capital expenses for the House of Assembly with effect from the month of January.

In the letter, directed to the state Accountant-General, the Speaker said, ”You may wish to note that salaries and allowances, which are paid directly to individuals from your office are not included in this request.” The request was made up of N37.4m recurrent and N97.9m capital expenditure for one month. It was learnt that as a result of the refusal of the government to accede to the request of the lawmakers, as the amount being demanded for was considered outrageous, the House wrote another letter on February 6, reducing the amount to N33m but requested that the amount be increased by 20 per cent, which will bring the monthly allocation to N39.7m.

The Office of the Accountant General was not impressed with the argument of the Speaker that it was ridiculous for the AG to choose to release N22m every month out of the annual allocation of 1.175bn, saying it was unbelievable for the Accountant General to think of paying the House N1m as capital vote every month. ”Is the Accountant General saying that only N12m will be released out of the over N1bn (N1,175,000,000) approved for the House for 2009?” the clerk queried.

Not moved, however, the state government released N22m to the House for the month of January, which the Speaker directed the Clerk to return through a letter on February 11, with reference HA.70/163. And this set the stage for the lawmakers to ‘rightly‘ claim that Daniel had decided to starve the House of funds by withholding the allocations to the legislators. According to one of the arrowheads of the G15 and one-time Deputy Speaker of the House, Dr. Tokunbo Oshin, the governor had decided to arm-twist the members of the House to rubber stamp every decision of the executive. Oshin, who had never hidden his disdain for the executive since he was replaced by Mr. Edward Ayo-Odugbesan as the Deputy Speaker to Oseni in 2007, equally alleged that Daniel had refused to implement two laws, the House of Assembly Self Accounting Law and the House of Assembly Service Commission Law, which were passed during Daniel’s first term in office.

”This is a serious offence; one wonders why the state governor will not implement a law he assented to since 2005. If this act of illegality is not redressed in two weeks, we will not fail to invoke the necessary sections of the constitution against the governor,” said the House Committee Chairman on Information. The turn of events did not amuse the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Akin Osinbajo, who contended in his letter to the Speaker on February 9, that the House did not specify which law it had asked the executive arm of government to implement. Osinbajo, however, contended that the two laws could only be implemented where certain structures, to be set up by the lawmakers, were in place.

Before the Attorney General‘s letter could get to the House and before the G11 could muster the strength to distance themselves from the threat of the invocation of relevant sections of the constitution against Daniel, the G15 had written a strongly worded petition to the State Commissioner of Police and another to the Senate President, the Speaker, House of Representatives and the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party.

In the February 4 petition to the state police commissioner, Egbetokun alleged that the state had been taken over by killer squads while unresolved assassination attempts had become the order rather than the exception. Egbetokun fingered a commissioner in the state for being the most prominent in hiring and organising killer squads for the state governor. Such killer squads, he alleged, were most noticeable in Abeokuta, Yewa North and Ijebu East. These are just few of the mind-boggling and despicable evils the governor was accused of perpetrating apart from flagrantly violating the constitution with ”his deeds, actions, attitudes and utterances.”

The Speaker maintained that the lives of the members of the House were no longer safe, calling on the relevant party and security agency to prevail on Daniel to guarantee their safety. The G11 would, however, not take such move with levity as it sent its letter to the Senate President dismissing the submissions of Egbetokun and his 14 lieutenants as frivolous and lacking substance. The group, led by Oseni, denied that the lives of the lawmakers were in danger. It was then that people got the signals that the resumptions of the plenary in the House would be a battle royale and it sure lived to that billing.

Keen observers in the state are, however, not surprised at the turn of events. While some blamed the lawmakers for demanding money persistently, others believed close allies of Daniel have imprisoned their principal while running the show for him. The Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr. Remmy Hazzan, said the House was not ready to remove the governor ”for now”, a statement believed to be pregnant with deep meaning. The Deputy Speaker has however said that no amount of intimidation would force the lawmakers to abandon their legislative responsibilities. Hazzan, a pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, contended that the governor should address the ”issue” on the ground rather than encouraging unnecessary rallies.

He said, “If there are clear signs of threats to our lives, are people saying that we should not talk? So, impeaching the governor is not in our agenda for now and people should stop running around over a non-issue.” The lawmaker, representing Odogbolu Constituency, a local government that harbours Omu, where the mother of the governor was buried last year, did not, however, specify what would be done if the governor failed to cooperate with the lawmakers.

The accounts of two of pro-Daniel lawmakers varied on the causes of the recurrent uproar in the state. The Chairman, House Committee on Youths and Sports, Mr. Durotolu Bankole, did not totally support the view that money was at the roots of the political crisis, though he did not deny the fact that the House had a disagreement over the issue of allocations to the House. Bankole, a former student union leader at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, said, ”We knew ourselves when we first got here and all of us cannot claim that we are still at the same level right now. When there was a crisis last year, the governor called us and asked us what we want. We all agreed he should buy us Toyota Avensis; he bought the cars for us. Nobody is complaining about that right now!

“I believe this current uproar is about the 2011 governorship contest in the state. The ‘opponents‘ are amassing all available weapons to thwart the emergence of a Yewa/Awori person as governor of the state in 2011. They have perfected plans to either impeach the governor; work towards the declaration of a state of emergency or ensure that the Election Petitions Tribunal or the Appeal Court nullifies the April 2007 governorship election in the state. So, it is an all out attack.”

The claim of Bankole appears to tally with an information an aide of one of the National Assembly members from Ogun Central volunteered to our correspondent in the state in December. Strictly warning our correspondent not to be linked with the information, he claimed Daniel had ”fought” with most of the National Assembly members from the state, the elders of the party, a former minister; had a rumoured rift with former President Olusegun Obasanjo; had ”embarrassed” the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo; and is attempting to impose the next governor of the state on the party. Based on these “sins,” he said Daniel would need divine intervention to finish his second term as the state governor.

Police sack Onitsha park over murder of cop 8/3/2009


From Adimike George, Onitsha

Anambra State Police Command yesterday sacked touts at the Aba park in Upper Iweka area of Onitsha. For several hours the police halted commercial activities in the area following an alleged lynching of a policeman at the park by the touts.

Although no official reason was given as to what led to the killing of the policeman, eyewitnesses said that the policeman had gone to arrest some touts who were smoking Indian hemp when the hoodlums beat him to death.

The incident attracted police reprisal as they moved into the park and adjoining areas shooting indiscriminately. Several arrests were made.

When newsmen visited the scene on Saturday afternoon, the police were still shooting indiscriminately, thereby forcing passengers, drivers, hawkers and touts to take to their heels for safety.

Traffic along the Onitsha-Owerri Road was stopped, which caused hold-ups along the expressway and adjoining roads.

Some of the people who ran away from the scene said that over one hundred persons have been arrested by the police during the operation.

When contacted, the police were not forthcoming with information. The Police Public Relations Officer in the State, Mr. Fidelis Agbo, said he would get in contact with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the area.

The Onitsha Area Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Nwamaka, said that he was not ready to say anything as he has not received full briefing from his men.

Mimiko sets up contract review panel

Sunday Kudaisi, Akure


Ondo state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has set up a nine-man contract review committee with a term of reference to provide all available information in respect of contracts awarded by the previous administration in the state.

The committee has two weeks to submit the reports of contracts awarded within the last six months and six weeks for other contracts by the last administration in the state,

The government in a statement signed by the permanent secretary special duty, Mr. Ajose Ikudehinbu, named Mr. Gbenga Ale as secretary to the committee.

The committee is expected to provide such information as contract name, dates of award, expected date of completion and payment manner.

Other members of the committee are Eng. G. O. Akijo, chairman, Eng. A Komolafe member; Dr. I. O. Aje, member; Arch. Dawodu Igbekele, member; Mr. F J Akinseye member; Eng. Fred Olasanoye member; Mr. Ojo Adebusuyi, member and Mr. Fisawo Akinkuade, member.

It is also to examine the process of contracts award in order to determine compliance or otherwise with extant procedures and regulations as well as examine the cost of each contract in order to determine if they were properly valued or otherwise.

The committee is also to examine the amount paid, including mobilization in order to determine if it is in accordance with extant procedures and regulations and or commensurable with the amount of work done and equally determine the priority rating of the contracts in the light of what should be urgent needs of the people and make appropriate recommendations.

Meanwhile, the government has also appointed two parliamentary liaison officers; they are Hon. Bamido Omogbehin and Mr. Ifeolu Fashoranti.

12-year-old boy held for robbery


The Oyo State Police Command has arrested a young robbery suspect at the Ogunpa area of Ibadan.

The 12-year-old boy, names withheld, was said to have escaped from the custody of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), Dugbe, Ibadan, twice and was eventually arrested around the Gate area of Ibadan. The suspect, who dropped out in primary five at Methodist Primary School, Gate, Ibadan, was alleged to have robbed some houses.

According to a police source, the suspect stole N15,000 from the inmates in the cell before he escaped the second time. His escape, according to a police officer, almost cost four policemen their jobs. “This person you are seeing, he looks small but he is not small at all. If you get to know what he is doing, you will fear him. He handles gun, I mean, he can shoot very well. He robs and does all sorts of evil. We have arrested him twice and he escaped from our cell. The last time he escaped, four of our policemen were locked up and they were not released until I re-arrested him and that is why we are giving him close monitoring,” a policeman disclosed.

The suspect, who disclosed that his mother lives at Ile-Igbo area of Ibadan, said he lost his father five months ago. He said a man called Biodun, a. k.a. Hallmark, taught him how to shoot a gun, adding that his gang usually operates in the night. He said he lives in a motor park at Orita Aperin area of Ibadan.

According to him; “the last operation that we did before they arrested us was when we went to a house in the night at about 9 p.m. We chartered a taxi and after the operation, we gave the driver N1,000. When we got there, we said ‘everybody hands up and start giving us what you have.’ We were shooting up, and out of fear, they surrendered their property.”

rip.